Simon Community: 263 people sleeping rough in central London

Homelessness charity the Simon Community found there were 263 people sleeping rough in central London last week.

The figure, based on a count carried out overnight on 31 October and 1 November, marks a big leap from the 165 found in the Simon Community’s last count of the same areas, in April.

One hundered and ninety four of the total were in Westminster, with a further 30 in the City of London borough. The charity said the figures reflected a lack of adequate provision, particularly for new arrivals from the European Union, who have no access to government funding.

The Simon Community said its figures were consistently higher than official estimates, despite its counts being carried out in the same way as the government’s. It also said its figures excluded those people sleeping in parks, disused buildings or other places not accessible to those doing the count.